


The Journey of Link.

by ASporkFullOfBeans



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Blood, Eventually this will hopefully cover the entire game, Hopefully this will update at least once every weekend, Link kills monsters, Mute Link, Non-Verbal Link, Sign Language, Slow Burn, Spoilers, There's a lot more to come so strap in yall, Violence, i guess?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-22 01:13:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10686741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASporkFullOfBeans/pseuds/ASporkFullOfBeans
Summary: This is the story of how one young Hylian saves all of Hyrule. Of the challenges he faces, the tasks he's given, the friends he makes, and much, much more.This, is the Journey of Link.---------------------Currently only spoilers for the first 15-30 minutes of game play.





	1. Resurrection.

**Author's Note:**

> The official new posting of The Journey of Link series I started. As it's meant to be read whole I decided to make it into one large work instead of splitting it and tying them together in a series. 
> 
> Thank you all so, so much for reading. You have no idea how much your hits, kudos, and comments have inspired me. What was just going to be a few silly chapters of my Botw headcanons has turned into an adventure I plan to write in it's entirety. If all goes well I'll hopefully get new chapters up on the weekends so look out for that <3

"Open your eyes." A voice tells him. Without thought he tries to, but his body feels weird. Like it's not quite there, or he's not quite in it.

"Open your eyes." The voice tells him again. He sees white, blusish light that hurts to look at. Slowly, his eyes start to focus despite only being half open. He's looking up at some weird light, blue dots connected to one another with lines like constellations. Pointing at an inner design with dots as well, only they don't connect like the others.

"Wake up, Link." The voice continues to speak. He is awake, he swears. He tries to move his fingers to tell the person as such but he feels like his body is less awake than his mind. 

He blinks a few times, looking up at the roof above him. Suddenly there's the sound of draining as the water level passes his ears. What was once so quiet before becomes rushing water and ambient sound that feels like he's standing under a roaring waterfall, but in reality is much gentler. 

The water leaves his hair dripping wet and his body cold and when he sits up his bones ache like he hasn't moved in millennia. As he's upright, he takes his first deep breath and immediately regrets it. Maybe it's from being submerged for who knows how long or the cool thick air in the room, either way he coughs and hacks reaching out for the side of the platform-tub-thing to keep himself up. It's a deep sort of cough that rattles his lungs and hurts his chest but after a minute or two he calms down, sitting in a damp tub in the middle of a room just breathing. 

His breath catches once or twice while he tries to calm himself which makes him panic for a second, thinking he can't breathe, but he weathers it pretty well and coughs through it. Eventually making it out with clear lungs and blue eyes adjusting to the darkness. 

He goes to get out of the glowing pedestal tub, swinging his legs over the side when he realizes he's shaking a bit from the chill. Moving is a little hard when his actions aren't doing exactly what he wants but he hops down from the thing without major stumbling and takes it as a victory.

Now with a better look at the room, it's got more constellation like lights on the walls. These ones glowing orange instead of the blue from the light above. The only other blue thing in the room is a little pedestal with a flat face tilted towards him, sitting in front of what looks like a door.

Without other direction, he walks towards it, arms crossing over his chest to try and conserve his heat. It glows brighter as he stands in front of it and oddly enough his first thought is _Please don't blow up._

Instead the little terminal's inner ring twists, and a rectangle in it flips over, ejecting from the stone and standing upright. The eye detail on the back of it staring at him.

"That, is a Sheikah Slate." The voice is suddenly back and Link jumps at hearing it. "Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber." 

_"What's a Sheikah Slate?"_ He brings his hands in front of him and his fingers curl around the words, making a silent speech that comes so natural to him it's easier than trying to breathe after first waking up. The only difficulty he has is the slight shaking of his limbs but he gets the words across well enough he thinks. _"How long was I asleep?"_

The voice doesn't answer him and he spends a second waiting for it. The Sheikah Slate glows at him in a pulsing beat as he looks at it. Curiosity quickly gets the better of him as the voice ignores him and he takes it, holding it sideways like he feels like he should.

The screen lights up with a metallic sound and he recoils a bit in surprise, looking wide eyed at the thing. An eye-like design that was on the back of the Slate lights up on it's front and stares back at him. Almost immediately the ground shakes. The door in front of him opens, stone pillars rising and sending little bits of sand and dust falling under it.

Carefully he loops the Slate's handle to his pants as to not lose it and walks through the door. He's met with wall lighting that looks like blue fire and several boxes and crates laying about. There's two chests in front of him and he looks around from where he stands. Nobody seems to be here so nobody would mind if he looked inside, right?

He kneels down and unclasps the lock. Inside of the first he finds a dusty old shirt and a strap to tie things to. He grins as he pulls the shirt over his head, the fabric absorbing some of the water that clings to him and somehow he already feels warmer. Pulling the strap over his head he let it hang off of one shoulder and rushed over to the next chest.

Inside he finds well worn pants, a pair of boots, and a belt. Hastily, he pulls them on and relishes in their warmth. The shirt's just a touch small and the pants weren't very long but the shoes fit well so he couldn't complain. 

With one of his needs satisfied and his limbs less shaky, he looks around the boxes and broken barrels. Inside of them there was nothing much useful and he couldn't even get the bigger ones open so he leaves them be and walks down the stairway with feet falling closer to where he asks them to.  
This part of the building, cave, whatever he's in, also has the orange constellation dots on the walls but their light is faint compared to the wall mounted lighting. 

A dim circle decorates the recessed floor before a large, locked door and another one of the Sheikah Slate pedestals. He walks over to it and before even touching it, the voice speaks again. "Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal. That will show you the way."

Link looks around for the source of the voice but it's only him and the dusty boxes in the old room. Grabbing the Slate from his hip, he hesitantly holds it above the pedestal. The one hand that's not currently busy signs out to the disembodied voice. _"Who are you?"_

Instead of the voice seemingly in his head replying, the pedestal does. "Authenticating." It announces, it's voice oddly mechanical and distorted. "Sheikah Slate confirmed." It approves and the eye symbol on the door starts to glow that bright blue. It pushes itself outward and horizontal bars of the door pull back while the vertical ones wait their turn to pull up. It opens just like the last door he encountered, only much larger.

As the door passes about half way up, a blinding light streams into the room, cutting sharp rays into the floor. Dispersing only when the door raises fully, lighting the entire room. He walks away from the terminal, holding a hand up against the bright light that burns a bit after the dim lighting provided in the cave.

The voice doesn't startle him when it speaks again. "Link... You are the light - our light - that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now, go…"

Now, getting more and more used to the fact that this person's voice didn't seem to come from anywhere, Link signed to it again hoping for a response. _"What happened? Why are you ignoring me?"_  
True to form, the voice doesn't speak again. 

With a resigned sigh, Link walks up the newly presented stairs, just barely seeing the outline of a tree above and beyond it. Pointed ears perk up a little in interest.

As he reaches the top of the stairs, his footsteps stop echoing and start crunching dully. There's grass under him, dirt turning to mud in a small puddle. He pushes at it with the toe of his new-to-him boot and smiles. The fresh smell of nature flows around him and it feels like the world is welcoming him with open arms from the cold hardness of the inner cave. 

However, the wall in front of him blocks him from the rustle of the grass and the sound of songbirds. Taller than himself and looking more or less without hand holds, Link risks falling back into the puddle and jumps for it. 

Strangely enough, he doesn't fall. He hangs on to clumps of hard dirt and slowly starts climbing up. It too, like signing, seemed natural to him. By the time he reaches the top and hoists himself over the edge, he's barely out of breath. 

The world comes into view as Link straightens up. Everything looks so vibrant and excitement hits him like a wild horse. Without hesitation, he runs out from the arched entrance of the cave building. Brushing past overgrown bushes at the bases of trees, long grass whipping past his legs as he rushes to the cliff edge, large rocks greeting him as he stops. 

In that moment, the world seemed to sing. Blue sky with slowly rolling clouds sitting over mountain tops that faded into the distance. Their sharp edges smoothing into a valley below him that grows forests under the cliff. Half crumbled walls littering the ground without much care and more recent structures far in the distance. He felt as if he could see everything, standing at the edge of the world with pointed ears tilted forward and blue eyes stretched wide to take it all in. 

It felt like the beginning, a fresh start. Something beautiful and precious to behold. A grin slowly finding its way to his face as he basked in the fresh air and breathtaking sight. 

Link wouldn't yet understand what it meant to be the Light of Hyrule or the pressure it entailed, or how broken the world before him truly was. However, for now, that was okay and the boy without a voice was free to enjoy his re-entry into the world.


	2. A Helpful Old Man.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link looks out over the horizon, blue eyes scanning all he can see until they land to his left. The figure of a large man stares back at him where the cliff face slopes to the side and meets the ground. There's a fire behind him under a ridge, making a cute little campsite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a file on my switch specifically for this adventure and I'm watching a no-commentary play through to get all dialog/cutscenes down as perfect as I can. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy <3

Link looks out over the horizon, blue eyes scanning all he can see until they land to his left. The figure of a large man stares back at him where the cliff face slopes to the side and meets the ground. There's a fire behind him under a ridge, making a cute little campsite.

His pointed ears find their normal resting place once again and small blue earrings poke at him. He brings a hand up to feel them and even takes one out to look at it. They're plain, simple. Yet he likes them all the same. 

He looks back up, putting the earring in its rightful place before making to wave at the man. Except, the man's turned away now and walking back to his camp. Curiosity now peaked, Link moves to follow. 

His foot comes down on a fallen limb and he looks down at it. It's about the size of his torso and looks relatively sturdy. 

Picking it up, he gives it a bit of a test swing and it proves to be just as sturdy as it seemed. Not invincible, no, but enough to take a hit. 

He secures it on the strap over his shoulder and it rests, albeit a little awkwardly, on his back. Now back on his mission to meet the man camping outside his cave-Sheikah Slate baring-building-thing, he makes it to a spot where a stone road used to live long ago, covered in patches by grass and earth. 

Yet again though, he get's distracted. Just off the path grow a little patch of mushrooms with bright orange tops, nestled in the roots of a tree. Deciding that the man could wait for the harvest of mushrooms, Link walks over to them and crouches down, carefully lifting them from the dirt and disturbing a bug landed on the tree's trunk. 

With a closer look at them, Link recognizes them as Hylian Shrooms. Now he was even more excited to make it to the old man's campfire. They'd make a fantastic mushroom skewer, one that the man was sure to enjoy and probably would take in exchange for letting him camp out by his fire. 

Distantly, he hopes the man isn't actually allergic to shrooms, as he carries a hand full of them down the stone path. The man's camp site getting closer and closer.

Just outside the man's make shift shelter is an apple tree and Link can't help himself from trying to reach them. They make a good back up plan if the stranger really is allergic to the shrooms, and would just generally go well with them if not. 

At first, he jumps for the apples, still holding the bundle of shrooms with one hand. Tongue poking out of his mouth a little, eyes narrowing with concentration, and Hylian ears pointing back. However, it does him no good as two of the shrooms tumble out of his hand and the apple remains unreached on the branch.

Huffing a little, Link picks up the fallen shrooms and dusts them off. There's no real damage to them so he walks up to the man's camp and puts the little pile of shrooms down. He finds the elderly man looking at him with an amused expression and Link holds up a finger in a 'one second' gesture. 

Now determined to get the apples, he walks up to the offending tree and pushes off of one of its roots to jump up part of the way. He hits the tree with a little "Ough." which knocks some of the breath out of him. Stubbornly though, he climbs, clutching onto the apple tree's bark and making it to its top relatively quickly and only with minor scratches to his palms. 

Once seated at the top, Link reaches out for the apples and manages to snag the one closest to him. It's stem severing with a little _snap_. Link celebrates the victory, throwing his fists in the air with a triumphant "Hah!" sound, fingers of one fist wrapped around the secured apple. For his enthusiasm, the old man gives him a smile and a chuckle of a laugh. 

That laugh quickly turns into a concerned yelp as Link loses his balance and starts to fall backwards out of the tree. With a mix of panic and reflex, his empty hand swings out and snags on the branch, wrenching his arm a little from the jolt but all and all keeping him from falling back-first on stone path. 

He and the old man share a sigh of relief, and Link wedges the already caught apple between his shoulder and neck. Using his now free hand to pick the other apple, it's stem breaking as well with the same satisfying _snap_ as its twin. 

Carefully now, Link juggles the two apples into one hand and lets go of the branch. With his legs extended down towards the ground, the fall isn't much of a far one, though it shoots a slight twinge up his joints at the impact. 

The twinge fades with a few steps towards the man, and Link presents the apples with a grin. 

"Oho ho, well met, stranger!" The old man says. 

Link replies with a signed _"Thank you."_ and walks around the camp fire to sit with his back towards the natural rock wall. _"May I?"_ He asks, gesturing to the spot on the ground.

"Be my guest." The old man chuckles. Link nods at him in a sort of less formal thanks and detaches the branch from its place on his back. Carefully he plucks off the leaves and skewers the mushrooms and apples to the jutting out prongs of the limb. The Hylian shrooms take better to being impaled than the apples do and they need a little bit of wiggling to be forced on the branch. Quickly enough though, Link's holding them up over the fire and the smell of cooking fruit and mushrooms fills the air. 

_"How do you like them?"_ Link asks, fingers curling around the words as he slowly spins the branch to cook evenly. 

The old man looks up and shakes his head. "None for me, Thank you though." 

Link looks up at him, a little disheartened. Ears tilting back and eyebrows knitting together. _"Are you allergic?"_

"Oh, no. Just full is all." The old man chuckles at Link's concern, sitting back and watching him cook, leaning a little on his walking stick. 

Without the food to offer as a thanks for letting him stay, Link stares down at the warming fruit and shrooms, feeling a little bit imposing. 

A silence flows between them, until a little nub on the branch where a new twig was trying to grow before it fell jabs Link in the hand, making him hiss as it scrapes along the more injured hand's cuts. 

The old man looks up as if startled and Link feels bad for possibly waking him. "Are you hurt?" He asks, such sincere concern in his voice that it makes Link hesitate. His scrapes aren't so bad, they'll heal in a few days maybe, but right now his palm burns in protest of the offending nub. As a result, Link shrugs.

"Let me see?" The old man asks, not offering a hand but leaning towards him. 

Link finds a nearby rock and props the branch turned skewer against it. Turning back to the elderly man, he holds out his palms. They're red and the skin is torn and angry looking, though not bleeding much with little bits of bark flaked around the jagged scrapes, the hand he'd used to catch himself looking worse off than the other by far.

"Come, there's a lake just down the slope. You should wash out those cuts." The old man says and stands. Quietly he leads Link down the hill and past the crumbled walls of an ancient structure.  
They pass another apple tree Link itches to climb and make their way to a small area where the water laps at the sore. In it's clear surface he can see fish swimming and moss gripping stubbornly to rocks. "Here," The old man says and gestures to the tiny shore with his walking staff.

_"Thank you."_ Link signs again, kneeling down to the water's edge and slowly submerging his hands in the water. It stings at first and he sucks in a breath at the pain, slowly and gently moving his fingers along the scrapes to rid them of bits of bark and dirt. 

The old man only chuckles. "No need to thank me, young man." 

Bringing the less damaged and now dripping hand out of the water he signs a quick _"Who are you?"_ with slightly stinging fingers before putting it back in the lake to pick at his other hand a bit more.

"Me?" The man chuckles. "I'm just an old fool who has lived here, alone, for quite some time now. I'll spare you my life story." He says as if he were the one imposing on Link instead of the other way around.

_"I'm not in a hurry."_ Link insists with a shrug, testing out his more damaged hand and finding it sting a bit more than the other but not enough to keep from signing. 

The old man just waves a dismissing hand at him and says instead, "What brings a bright-eyed young man like you to a place like this?" 

_That's… a good question._ Link thinks, sitting back from the edge of the lake and shaking the water from his hands. _"Where are we, actually?"_ He asks, patting his hands against his ill fitting shirt to dry them.

"Answering a question with a question. That's fair enough." The old man chuckles, even though Link hadn't really indented it to turn out like that. "As I cannot imagine our meeting to be a simple coincidence… I shall tell you." The old man decides, gesturing for Link to stand as he turns to walk back to the little campsite. "This is the Great Plateau. According to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire Kingdom of Hyrule."

_You are the light - out light - that must shine upon Hyrule again. _Link remembers the voice tell him, hoisting himself up from the ground and following the elderly man back up the ridge.__

__"That temple there…" The man says, turning as they near the campsite, facing back towards the lake and gesturing with his staff to a building. It's crumbled by time and once probably looked beautiful. Windows blown in and some with remains of stained glass barely hanging on as even some of the walls lay in pieces on the ground. Against it all, the structure still stands. "Long ago, it was the site of many sacred ceremonies. Ever since the decline of the kingdom 100 years ago, it has sat abandoned, in a state of decay."_ _

__The old man sighs, stopping to look at it for a moment too long. His words mournful like he personally had seen the structure go from something beautiful to something broken. "Yet another forgotten entity." The old man mutters, turning his back on the building. "A mere ghost of its former self." The man near whispers, but Link catches it as the old man walks under the natural made roof and sets himself down by the shrinking fire._ _

__Link walks around the burning sticks and back at his previous spot, picking the branch loaded with shrooms and fruit back up to turn over the fire. The two settle back into a silence, every once and a while Link looks over to the old man. He looks tired all of a sudden, worn down in a way Link hadn't quite noticed before, as he pokes at the trying to die fire with his walking stick. Link looks back to his branch of cooking food, a small frown on his face._ _

__Eventually, Link deems the food cooked and takes the branch away from the fire that's desperately trying to go out on them as the sun begins its dip towards the horizon. With a small wave to get the old man's attention, Link offers him once again some of the food._ _

To that, the old man insists Link burned them, laughing at the young man's indignant expression as the little Hylian signs repetitively _"They aren't burned!"_ The old man only chuckles and suggests they agree to disagree.

__In truth, they are a little burned and taste more like smoke than they ought to but Link's just happy to have gotten the old man to laugh again. Munching on his fruit and shrooms, the silence between them is much more of a content one than the upset one of before. Link even finds the old man watching the sun hide behind the trees across from them instead of staring at the fire like he wasn't really seeing it._ _

__Slowly, the fire is allowed to fizzle out and the sticks made up of it smolder in a pile of faintly glowing embers. The sky darkens around them and the old man turns back to Link. The Hylian in question sits barely awake, knees drawn up to his chest with his arms loosely laid over them to provide a resting spot for his head. Blue eyes half lidded as he gaze into the dying fire, stomach full and only moments from sleep._ _

__"You should get some rest, young man." The older man says, laying down himself on the hard ground of their make shift shelter.  
Link blinks sleepily a few times, registering what's said to him on a delay through a filter of exhaustion. With a slow nod, he follows the old man's lead and curls up by the still warm sticks, yawning once before settling down and drifting into a dreamless slumber._ _


	3. It's Dangerous to Go Alone.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Young man." A laughing voice cracks the shell of his slumber. Desperately clinging to sleep, he floats between wakefulness and rest.
> 
> "Young man." The voice laughs again and he's slipping awake. He can already tell his back hurts from laying on the ground but mostly out of spire he curls up on himself and groans, swatting an arm out at the voice to get it to go away. Too tired to bother signing anything.
> 
> "Young man." The voice sounds as if it's trying to sound stern and missing by a narrow margin. His face scrunches up in displeasure as he skips over the line of waking, losing the chance to go back to sleep.
> 
> Stubbornly though, he keeps his eyes squeezed closed and brings a hand out to sign "What? " spelled out in a lazy version of Hylian script.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy <3

"Young man." A laughing voice cracks the shell of his slumber. Desperately clinging to sleep, he floats between wakefulness and rest.

"Young man." The voice laughs again and he's slipping awake. He can already tell his back hurts from laying on the ground but mostly out of spire he curls up on himself and groans, swatting an arm out at the voice to get it to go away. Too tired to bother signing anything.

"Young man." The voice sounds as if it's trying to sound stern and missing by a narrow margin. His face scrunches up in displeasure as he skips over the line of waking, losing the chance to go back to sleep.

Stubbornly though, he keeps his eyes squeezed closed and brings a hand out to sign _"What?"_ spelled out in a lazy version of Hylian script. 

"I thought you might be hungry." The man says, putting two beautifully baked apples out in front of the Link's face. 

Blue eyes crack open and he only smells the apples after he sees them. They're relatively large, like the ones he picked earlier with their outsides a cooked dark red, sitting on a pale cloth. Their skins warping and pealing a bit from the heat. 

He sits up slowly, movements sluggish and clumsy from sleep and using his arms to do most of the work in pushing himself vertical from the ground. He pauses halfway through the movement to yawn, eventually ending up in a cross legged sit.

Waking up slowly, he accepts the treats without thought, reaching out for one while his other hand rubs at his eyes that fight to close. The apple is still warm and he finds himself blowing on it, signing a slow _"Thank you."_ and taking a bite. 

It's sweet and perfect and has some kind of spice in it that he can't name but makes it all the more wonderful and he chews it for longer than strictly necessary, savoring the flavor with a still half asleep mind and a grateful hum.

The elderly man only chuckles at his tired state, small Hylian looking nothing more than a child awoken from a nap. "I take it you like them?" He asks.

_"Could be a little more burnt."_ Link signs with a tired smile and the old man laughs. 

"Link." A whisper, so faint at first he hardly even notices. Pointed ears twitching forward on their own trying to grasp the fleeting noise as he eats more of the baked apple. 

"Link." The voice from the cave-building says louder. Link's head snaps up and for a moment he looks around, forgetting that she's not really nearby.

"Young man?" The elderly man's voice is filled with concern and as Link looks over to him he finds the taller face matching the tone. 

_"What?"_ He mouths, his own brows knitting together in confusion.

"Head for the point marked on the map in your Sheikah Slate." The voice continues and Link looks away from the worried old man and to his own hip. The slate he'd almost forgotten about comes to life, it's screen lighting in a blue grid, interrupted by squiggling lines and a small yellow dot. Abandoning the baked apple back on the cloth with its twin, Link picks up the slate.

_"What do I do when I get there?"_ He signs, hoping that maybe this time she'll answer, propping the slate up on his knee. The little yellow dot pulses happily at him. 

Instead of the girl, the elderly man responds. "Is everything alright?" His tone still sounds concerned but when Link looks up at him there's something else he can't exactly decipher written in the man's features.

_"You can't… hear her?"_ Link signs slowly, confused expression making its way back to his face.

The old man shakes his head with a soft. "No, young man." His concern melting a bit into something more neutral.

_"Link."_ He says, spelling it out in individual letters. The elderly man makes a noise of confusion and Link clarifies. _"My name. It's Link."_

"Ah." The old man says. "Nice to meet you, Link." He offers a kind smile before gesturing for Link to continue speaking. "The girl you hear, what does she tell you. If you don't mind my asking."

He waves a hand at the elderly man, dismissing the thought that he would mind. Something about the elderly man makes Link want to trust him. _"She just talks to me. Tells me what I should do, but she never listens to me back."_ He explains, the girl never seemed to even _try_ to listen to the small Hylian and it was disheartening to say the least. Pointed ears drooping a bit with a small sigh through his nose. 

"That sounds frustrating." The old man hums his sympathies and Link nods. _It sucks._ He thinks as the man continues. "What does she tell you to do?" 

Picking up the Sheikah Slate, he holds it out to the man and points at its screen. _"Just, go there."_ He signs. _"That's it."_ The little yellow dot continues to send out little pulses of rings that fade out after a few seconds just for it to repeat the blinking motion. 

The old man nods once more with a "I see," and a thoughtful hum. Link reattaches the slate to his belt and the screen dims once more. Patting the ground close to him, the branch turned skewer had to be around somewhere and just as he makes to stand to look for it the old man speaks again. "Are you going to go?" 

Link looks towards the man, his standing height not even landing higher than the elderly man sitting. _"Of course."_ He signs, face scrunching a bit in confusion. _"Why wouldn't I?"_ He asks, finding his branch disregarded near where the ground met the jutting out wall of the natural made structure. A few bits of burned mushroom still cling to it and he picks them off easily.

The old man chuckles. "There's monsters about." He says, leaning a bit on his walking stick as he watches Link secure the branch to his back.

Link pulls a little on the Sheikah slate to insure it wouldn't fall off as he walked. _"I have a stick."_ The Hylian smiles, jutting a thumb over his shoulder to the secured branch. _"Besides, she's never been wrong before."_

The old man shakes his head with a fond smile. "It's dangerous out there, young man." When Link only shrugs, the man continues "Take these things, they'll help." Letting the walking stick fall back and prop against his shoulder, he ties the baked apples up in the cloth and holds them out to link. "The torch and the axe too." The elder gestures behind himself. The torch laying propped up against the stone wall while the axe rests imbedded in a tree stump. 

Hesitantly, Link takes the apples, holding his hands out under the carefully wrapped bundle as the old man drops them into his hands. Finding a place to store them, Link notices a small pouch on his belt near the back that he hadn't noticed before in his hurry to get dressed after finding the clothes. The apples fit well in the space and Link turns back to the old man. _"Are you sure? Don't you need them?"_ He asks, gesturing to the two potential weapons.

The old man hoists himself up with a grunt and creaking old bones. "Trust me, young man. I have no adventures left to live." He says with a small smile that isn't entirely a sad one. "Sounds to me like yours has just begun." 

Link gives the old man a small wave to get his eyes back on him. _"That doesn't mean you have to give me your things."_ He signs. _"You'll need to protect yourself from monsters, too."_ He says, adamant that the man keep his belongings. 

The old man however, disagrees. "I'll be staying here a while yet, young man." He says, grabbing the unlit torch he holds it out to Link like one might bestow a sword. "Take this, for when the nights are cold and you've lost your way." 

_"But…"_ Link signs slowly, reluctant to take from the old man. 

The man however, only continues as if he hadn't seen Link's protest. "Take the axe, for when the monsters are tough and you need help forging a path." The man's tone begs no argue as he drops the torch into Link's hands and takes his place back to sit by the pile of sticks, pulling out a small set of stones from his pocket and striking them together to light the fire. 

Link stands still, more speechless than usual, staring for a moment at the old man in shock. The sort-of-stranger ignores him and Link sets the torch back in its place with a small _thu-thunk_ of wood against stone as he decides he has to find some sort of payment for the objects.

He looks to the apple trees, picked dry of fruit. To the roots of the trees where no large mushrooms grow, and his eyes land on a fallen tree. What once stood where the axe stuck from its stump, the upper half of the tree sits perched on the edge of the ridge half of it on the ground, and half of it hanging over the lake. It's branches and sticks that dangle over the water perfect for firewood.

With a hopeful smile, Link walks towards the fallen tree. Nearing the stump he unties the strap holding his branch and sets it on the ground. Carefully he leans against the log with some of his weight. It shifts but doesn't entirely roll, so Link deems it safe enough and hops onto it with a quiet "Hup." noise. 

The tree jostles back and forth a bit with the movement, and Link inches down the tree in a half standing position. Balancing on his knees, spread a little to distribute his weight, he uses his arms to keep his upper half steady. Tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration, trying his best not to fall off the log. 

The tree wiggles and fights to roll under him and in a slight panic, Link shifts the other way as his heart jumps into his throat, somehow managing to keep the tree stable. With a slightly stressed breath of a laugh, he continues down the tree, correcting it's movements in the opposite direction to keep it steady.

As he nears the lowest branch on the tree when it was standing, he reaches out and starts to snap off larger twigs and sticks. Still safely positioned with the ground under him, he tucks the soon to be firewood under one arm. 

The one branch however doesn't offer enough sticks to build even one fire, so Link carefully shimmies down the length of the fallen tree suspended with only one arm to balance with. The ground recedes behind him and he's hanging out over the lake, reaching for thicker sticks of what were taller branches.

_Just a few more._ Link thinks to himself, hunching down to hopefully move the tree less, reaching out for the next branch's sticks. He doesn’t move up any further, being already over the unsupported part of the log, leaning instead in the hopes of grabbing the last few sticks and crawling back to solid ground.

Just as his fingers close around a reachable twig, the entire fallen tree shifts forward. Bark cracking against the rock edge of the cliff, Link tries to steady it by throwing his upper body back towards land but the tree's too far gone and it slides off the cliff towards the lake below.

With a strangled yelp, Link starts to fall away from the tree as it becomes vertical again. Attempting to hold on to the would-be firewood, he flails a bit in the air, somehow managing to kick off the tree and distance himself from it a little. 

Falling into the water's surface near a clumping of lily pads. The sticks bob to the surface, Link's exposed skin stings from the impact and his lungs protest from the insufficient oxygen of an unprepared gasp.

Legs kicking and arms sweeping downward, Link tries to tread water. Head breaching the surface with a gasp, coughing and sputtering as the disturbed water bounces up to his face. 

A loud crack sounds behind him and Link turns, starting to find a rhythm in the floating. The tree had turned back vertical, only upside down this time. It's upper branches splintering on jutting outs of the cliff face, a larger branch from the breaking tree breaking off violently, flying out and landing in a little ring of water lilies. The log's front half coming to a sudden stop swings the other end around until the tree falls horizontally in the water with a _crash_ of a splash, the sound of wood against water echoing through the dugout semi circle of the lake walls. 

The shockwave of the splash ripples through the lake, sending Link's head underwater just as he was starting to get his breath back. This time though, he's a little more prepared for it and gets a good lungful of air before going under. 

Coming up to the surface, no more gracefully than last time he pushes the hair out of his face and blinks the water out of his eyes. 

Just as the noise starts to settle down and the waters calm, high pitched voice laughs. "Ya-ha-ha! You found me!" and with a surprised yelp, Link's startled out of treading water and dips under the surface again. 

This time, breaking the surface is much like the first, sputtering lake water and coughing it out of his mouth. "Huh?" The tiny voice comes from behind him and Link pushes against the water, turning around. "You're not Hestu!" The creature says, almost sounding angry despite the unchanging expression of its leaf mask.

_"Sorry."_ He signs to the little thing quickly, trying to keep from going under again.

"But you can… see me?" The little leaf creature gasps, it's cute little voice turning bashful and curious. "I didn't know your kind could see the children of the forest!" It says, hopping up and down a little as it floats, holding onto a stick with spinning leaves. 

Link attempts a shrug, swimming closer to the ring of lilies it floats above. On his way, reaching out to gather a few of the would-be firewood sticks that now littered this side of the lake. 

"If you run into Hestu, please return this to him!" The child of the forest says, floating down to him and holding out a small golden seed. He gives the leaf creature a confused look but takes the seed, holding it against a handful of sticks with two fingers so it doesn't float away.

The little thing watches him tread water and he nods towards land, where he'd washed out his scraped hands just the day before and the ridge slopes down near the old building the man had mourned. The child of the forest gives a little high pitched "Huh?" but follows him anyway.

The swim takes a few moments as he collects more of the waterlogged sticks that float in his path, all the while the little leaf creature making questioning noises above him. 

Reaching where the lake turns shallow, he tosses one handful of sticks on the pebbly shore and takes the little seed from the other bundle before tossing the rest of the sticks to the ground as well. He looks over the little seed for a second and puts it in the pocket of his ill fitting pants. 

_"Who are you?"_ Link signs to the little creature as it plops down on the grass, kicking its little feet at the green blades as it's stick's turning leaves slow down.

"I am a Korok!" The child of the forest announces happily and Link chuckles at its happy go lucky nature.

He pulls his now dripping wet shirt over his head and wrings it out, wading through the lakebed mud and stones. Carefully he steps over his haphazardly thrown sticks and plops down on the mix of pebbly and grassy ground. Once happy with the amount of water gone from his shirt, he lays it out beside him in the sun.

_"Who's Hestu?"_ He signs to the creature, but it prances in a circle unaware. He waves a hand and clicks his tongue at the Korok. It looks up at him and makes a little "Huh?" sound. Link smiles at it and tries again. _"Who is Hestu?"_

The Korok near chirps as it starts prancing again. "Hestu is one of my friends! My other friends are hiding, just like I was." The little thing explains. "If you see Hestu, please give him the seed!" It asks of Link again.

_"Okay, I will."_ He signs to the Korok and once again goes ignored. Link smiles at it and it hums a little tune while it plays. _They really are children._ He thinks, the little thing acting very much like a kid with a good attitude. 

"Oh!" It says suddenly, turning to Link. "What's all those sticks for?" 

He huffs a little sigh through his nose and signs, _"They were going to be firewood for a friend."_ before starting to pick them up and get them back in a little bundle. The little Korok makes a sad "Oh," sound and Link waves at it. _"No, it's okay! They'll dry."_ He assures it.

The little Korok perks up again. "I'll help!" It declares, picking up one of the fallen sticks and holding it up triumphantly. "Where's your friend?" It asks, high pitched voice sounding determined.

Link laughs at the creature's helping, standing and grabbing his shirt from the ground. Shaking out the still damp fabric and slinging it over his shoulder. He Bends to pick up more of the thrown sticks he tucks them under one arm, there aren't many but it's probably enough for one fire and it's better than nothing. 

He gestures an arm up the hill and the little Korok, wielding both of its sticks, stumbles up the path. Link follows after it, making sure it doesn't actually fall down the slope. The little creature only trips up once and manages to catch itself as they walk back up to the old man's camp.

As he comes into view, the old man turns to him, eyes widening a bit in shock as he looks over Link's still dripping wet form. "Great Hylia, boy, what happened?" 

With a sheepish grin, Link sets down the bundle of firewood. _"I got you firewood, to pay you for the axe and the torch."_ He explains, separating the stick so they'd dry faster. _"And the Korok wanted to help."_ Link says, gesturing to the little leaf creature as it waved it's stick.

The old man's shock quickly turns to amusement. "What about collecting firewood entails going for a swim?" He asks with a chuckle, looking to where Link points and turning back to the Hylian with a confused expression. "What's a Korok?" 

Link sits down by the fire, laying out his shirt on the ground next to him. _"I tried to get sticks from that tree you chopped down."_ He explains, pulling off his boots and setting them nearer to the flame. _"But it fell and I ended up in the lake where I met this little leaf creature."_

The Korok shakes the stick again when mentioned with a high pitched "Hello!"

The old man squints where Link points, turning back to him and shaking his head. "Unless it's rather small I'm afraid I don't see anything." He says, leaning a bit on his walking stick. "I appreciate the firewood but those weapons are gifts, young man. I don't need repayment. I've got plenty of axes and any good stuck can hold a flame long enough for my needs." 

The little Korok gasps and sits itself down next to the old man. "I'll keep you company even if you can't see me!" It says in its high little voice, once again determined, tiny hand almost curling into a fist. 

Link laughs at it and turns to the old man. _"The Korok says it'll keep you company."_

The old man huffs out a laugh but soon gets to his point. "I'm glad because it's about time you set off. Wait any longer and you'll be traveling in the dark." He says, despite the sun being high in the sky. "Now, take my gifts, and follow that mark, young man."

The little Hylian smiles. _"It's Link."_ He corrects the man, standing up and collecting his things. Shirt and boots mildly more dry from the warmth of the fire he checks he has everything deposited on the camp. 

With a small noise of panic, Link remembers the apples and twists his upper half to reach at the pouch on his waist. Unclasping it he surprisingly finds the little cloth bundle to be dry and makes a little "Oh," sound.

"Link?" The old man questions with the raise of an eyebrow.

_"The apples."_ He explains, relapsing the little pouch. _"I thought they'd be ruined but they're not wet at all."_

The man nods. "Now you know where to put something important, huh?" As Link nods and straightens up.

_"Thank you. For everything."_ He signs to the man. 

"Let me know if I can be of service, again." The elderly man says.

Link nods and smiles, picking up the unlit torch and walking out of the campsite. He collects his old stick and new axe, tying the wooden things to him and settling on near dragging the heavy iron weapon. 

Stepping back onto the dilapidated stone path, Link waves at the old man and Korok, grinning as he finds them waving back to him. With one last signed _"Thank you!"_ Link makes his way towards the blinking yellow marker to appease the voice in his head.

-

The old man sighs. "Well." He says, hoisting himself up from his little campsite and extinguishing the fire. "Guess we'd better be off, little Korok." He says, straightening his hood and watching Link disappear in the distance. 

"You can see me?" The little Korok gasps.

The old man doesn't reply to the forest child, choosing instead to slowly step forward, leaning on his walking stick cane. A small smile hidden on his lips.


	4. Bokoblin Bros and Tower Woes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link turns after waving at the old man and the Korok, facing the direction the little yellow dot points him. Making his way down the slope, he holds the axe just above the ground, not wanting to scrape its edge on the stone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4!! This one fought with me a little bit but overall I'm not too upset with how it turned out and hopefully yall aren't either :D
> 
>  
> 
> As always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy <3

Link turns after waving at the old man and the Korok, facing the direction the little yellow dot points him. Making his way down the slope, he holds the axe just above the ground, not wanting to scrape its edge on the stone. 

He walks down a few stone steps to an area where the path widens. The edge of the forest buts against it, large trees grabbing onto fat stone pillars. As he walks, he notices a fluffy brown squirrel running up one of the larger tree trunks. 

Passing the short stone pillars, the Hylian hears something odd and his pointed ears twitch in curiosity. A questioning grunt of a sound comes from the forest. Taking a few more steps, he looks to his left to find the source of the noise and behind a tree a monster turns to look at him.

It's a Bokoblin. Red skinned with a wide face. It's eyes small and blue without pupils, paired with big floppy ears on either side of its head. Between them and sat in the center of its skull is a small horn no bigger than the palm of his hand. It's arms are awkwardly long and its nose twitches up and down.

With a shout of surprise, the monster jumps up and grabs something from the ground. As it rushes past the foliage, Link sees it's chosen weapon is a tree branch not unlike his own. 

As the Bokoblin charges at him, Link stands his ground. Body falling into a natural fighting stance, hands spreading apart on the axe and bringing it back in preparation for attack.

The creature doesn't seem to realize that its branch isn't a good match for Link's axe and brings its long arm up over its head to swing down on the Hylian. 

Before the Boko can attack, Link does. Putting his weight into the movement of the swing, the blade travels sideways, striking the creature's face. It lands a little awkwardly and leaves a large gash on the monster's head, cutting out a wedge of flesh in its cheek.

The Bokoblin lets out a shriek as it stumbles back and redoubles its efforts. Making to charge again, branch held at the ready. Its free hand coming up to hold the side of its face in pain.

Anticipating its repeated attack, Link swings the axe again. The movement is less prepared and more for speed than anything, as he aims for the center mass of the creature.

The blade slices across one of the Bokoblin's arms, over its wrapped forearms. Dark blood oozing out to stain the fabric. This attack doesn't distract the monster as much as the last and it successfully brings down the branch on Link's left shoulder.

With a short cry of pain, Link jumps back from the monster. It sneers at him, tongue swiping across it's lower fangs. 

Gritting his teeth, the Hylian hoists the axe up onto his good shoulder and brings it downward with as much force he can put into it, jumping a little into the attack. The blade embeds itself into the space between the Bokoblin's shoulder and neck. 

The monster gives a warbled cry and its body falls. Stick dropping from a loosened grip as the Boko's body crumbles. Before Link can do much more than take a breath, its flesh withers into a solid black mass. Within seconds it explodes in a little puff of fire and a cloud of ash. The monster's blood that covers the axe blade also turns to ash, half of it flaking off of the metal while the other clings like soot.  
Where the monster's body once was lay it's horn, jaggedly cracked at the base.

Link looks down at it as he catches his breath. It's pale like bone and has little ringlets of growth wrapped around it from its point to the broken off end where it connected to the skull.

He does a quick look around, letting out a sigh of relief as he finds no more dull red skin and glowing blue eyes. Letting the axe head rest on the ground with a dull _thunk,_ Link inspects his shoulder.

Pulling down the fabric of his shirt with one hand and craning his neck to look down at it, he finds an oddly familiar sight. His skin is an irritated red, darkest where the thickest part of the branch hit him. Near the center it's already turning a muddled purple and the Hylian frowns at it.

_Stupid Bokoblin._ Link thinks with a huff, pointed ears flicking in agitation. He looks back down at the monster's horn and decides to take it, shoving it in his pocket next to the korok seed.

With the crisis averted and an aching shoulder, Link continues his way down the slope. Letting the axe drag its blunt side against the stone. Experimentally he moves his left arm while he walks, shoulder sparking in pain with the wider sweeping movements. 

Link doesn't notice how the fighting seems to come easily, or how the ache in his shoulder is almost familiar. Doesn't question the instinctual stance and knowledge of the monster's name. Instead, he keeps walking.

His shoes thump against the old stone path as he makes it towards a decrepit fountain. He grips the axe again with two hands, picking it up from its scraping against the ground just to test if he can. Getting closer to the last tree on the path where the entrance of the old temple rests. It's a wide open area and taking a bit more caution thanks to the rogue Bokoblin, Link keeps an eye out. 

Looking up at the grand steps his carefulness is rewarded with the sight of another Bokoblin. Turning the other way he finds two more where the forest swallows the path once more.

His heart starts to thump a fast rhythm as he takes in the monsters. The last Boko had hit incredbily hard when it had the chance, with a sluggish two handed weapon and an already bruising shoulder, Link can't imagine he has much of a chance against three of them. 

Just as he starts to wonder about the range of a monster's hearing, something fast and large drops into the corner of his vision right next to his head.

"Gah!" Link jumps back in surprise, heart jumping into his throat. A small Chuchu stares at him from the ground directly under the tree and Link stares back at it in confusion. _Where in Hylia's name did you come from!?_

As the little blobs eyes literally roll to the front of its… face?, Link risks a glance upwards. Sure enough, there's blue goop clutching onto the branch just above him and for half a second he wonders what would have happened if it had landed on him.

In the time it takes him to stare up at the Chuchu's ambush hiding spot, the glob of jell compresses itself and pounces. Its solid mass hits Link square in the chest and knocks the breath out of him with a wheezing "Oof".

Somehow he manages to stay on his feet, stumbling backwards as his grip on the axe loosens and it falls to the ground. The Chuchu thumps back on the grass, leaving almost translucent blue residue on his shirt and Link gasps for breath.

Scrambling for a weapon as he realizes the old man's axe has fallen out of reach, he grabs the torch from his back with his uninjured arm and brings it down hard on the glob of a monster.

The hit lands between its big round eyes that get impossibly wider as the creature pops. Like a balloon, it just explodes. Bits of goo fly across the grass and where the Chuchu had once landed lay two spheres.

Doubling over with his hands resting on his knees, Link does his best to get his breathing back under control. His frame shaking as he coughs into his fist, trying to muffle the noise. His lungs burn and his chest aches and he wonders distantly if it was such a good idea to follow the Sheikah slate after all.

Looking up he follows the direction the slate was pointing him in and sees a rock structure past the fountain. _Whatever it is, it has to be important. Right?_ Link hopes.

With a groan he bends to pick up the axe, tucking the torch between his belt and his hip instead of on his back for easier reach. While folded over he picks up the two squishy spheres. They've got little knobs over them like baby tree limbs and he tightens his grip on them experimentally. 

They squish around his fingers and when he lets them go they revert back to their original shape. With a small smile despite his pains, he pockets the Chuchu jelly and stands back to his full height. 

Link takes a calming breath and looks around for any more signs of monsters. The groups of Bokoblins don't even seem to have spared the Hylian a single glance. 

Grateful for their lack of care, Link briskly walks towards the fountain, slowing as he reaches it.

Even as he stands in line with the two groups, none of them notice him. The fountain is in just as poor a shape as the temple. Parts of it broken with bits of wall scattered against it, it's water long dried up and replaced with mounds of dirt. Bits of grass and small flowers sprout from its soil.

He brushes a hand against its stone ruins as he passes ,dust and dirt gather on his fingertips and Link brushes them away on his ill fitting trousers. 

Starting back up at his jogging pace to put distance between himself and the Bokoblins, he reaches the other side of the temple's entrance. This side of the temple is a sweeping stone staircase of short steps instead of a path.

As he steps over the earth covered rock, two blue Chuchu's jump from the ground. Their sudden appearance still surprises him but after defeating one of the gelatinous beasts, Link hesitantly decides to jog past them. Their round eyes roll to follow him but as the dirt gives way to stone and Link turns back to watch them give up chase.

After squinting at Link in what seems to be annoyance, their pale blue bodies fall back into the ground like water. The sight is terribly unnerving but being free of the threats, he slows.

Standing at the bend of the stairs that meets up with a hill that just barely sits below the stone wall. Perhaps long ago the stone staircase was quite the drop to reach the ground, or perhaps it was just built into the hillside. Regardless, Link takes the Sheikah slate from his belt in his new found relative safety. Resting the axe against the crumbled stone, careful to leave it within reach.

The screen looks as unchanged as before but only now he notices a little yellow arrow pointing to the blinking yellow dot. Curiously, he turns the slate to the left. The yellow arrow swivels to follow the point. Turning the slate back straight, the arrow points him directly at the stone pile once more.

Looking up from the device he squints a little at his destination. Three Bokoblins guard the structure. One standing in front while two stand off to the side atop a small ridge. The thing itself is a weird stone covered building with almost a gazebo like look to it. Stone arches coming together into a point that supports the cave making rocks.  
The rock pile has to be where the slate points him and Link rescuers it to his belt. Even from his distance he can see the monsters wield weapons. The two on the ridge seem to hold bows or maybe more branches, while the one farther away holds something that glints in the light as it moves.

_Lone one first, then the archers._ Link decides. Even as the ache in his shoulder and chest protest, he has to get to the stone gazebo. With a quick breath, he picks the axe back up and tries to muster up as much courage as he can.

Making his way down the stairs, he notices a large pile of stony gray rubble laying haphazardly at the bottom. It doesn't at all match the bulb like shape of the rocks covering his destination, they more so resemble the temple now behind him. Perhaps they once built its walls, or maybe they're pieces of the staircase railing that tumbled down to their current resting place. 

Regardless of where they originate, Link finds that the rubble makes for good cover as he crouches behind it. Stopping to make some sort of plan now that he's officially outnumbered, he realizes with dread that there's no more places to hide between him and the Bokoblins. Only an open field with more grass covered stone path and a small pond to the left.

It won't hide him at all but Link optimistically hopes it will limit the monsters routes for charging. _Assuming it doesn't just run straight through the water._ His stomach sinks, praying that Bokoblins don't like to get wet. 

Standing, he walks slowly to put the pond between him and the monsters, keeping his steps light in hopes they don't hear. The last didn't seem to have a sizeable auditory range and he hopes these will be no different.

A wooden structure he hadn't noticed before sits off in front of him now and Link assumes it to be their campsite. For the moment, not even considering that more monsters could be hiding behind the wooden barricades.  
Soon, he's standing directly in line with the lone Bokoblin. It's nose twitches up and down as it stands, swaying a bit from side to side.

Link takes a breath to steel himself and holds the old man's axe at the ready. There's a break in the pond almost in front of him, where it clumps off into a smaller puddle and another pool behind it. The Bokoblin still hasn't noticed him.

Taking the element of surprise, Link sprints at the monster. As he passes the pond its floppy ear twitches and it turns to look at him just as he gets in range to hit it. Throwing the momentum of his run into the swing, Link brings the axe into a slicing arch and the blade bites into the Bokoblin's chest.  
The monster lets out a cry of pain jumps back, dark blood dripping down its chest. Finally up close, Link notices that this monster is far more armed than the last. The glinting object it holds turns out to be a sword, and in its other hand a wooden shield.

With the rhythm of battle and a healthy dose of fear, Link focuses on the monster. It swings out with more skill than the last Bokoblin, holding the sword proper and bringing it down in an arch instead of just trying to bash Link with it. He's lucky to be just out of reach, the blade's tip just barely kissing the edge of his skin near his hip. 

The monster jumps forward as he jumps back, sword swinging across back the way it came and leaving its side exposed. Stealing the opportunity , Link hoists the axe up. Bringing it in a sweeping motion to the left and then back down in a hard right, he imbeds the woodworking tool into the Bokoblin's side. 

The force of the blow knocks the Bokoblin off its feet and it drops the wooden shield as it falls. Link's breaths are short and controlled as he watches the monster stumble to its feet. It abandons the flat piece of wood on the ground and takes to a more aggressive stance. 

With a snarl the beast rushes him, holding the sword straight like it makes to impale him. 

In a split second, Link realizes the situation he's found himself in. He has nothing to block the incoming attack with and there's absolutely no way he can move out of the way fast enough while holding a heavy two handed weapon. 

In a rash choice, he hoists the axe up onto his good shoulder and throws it. It's badly aimed and more desperate than anything, the metal and wood tool flying through the air as Link doesn't stick around to see if it lands. He tucks into a roll and gets as far out of the way of the Bokoblin as he can, almost ending up in the pond. 

He braces himself for the blade to cut through him, but the biting slice of the sword never comes. Instead, Link looks up to see the darkened flesh of a Bokoblin explode in a cloud of ash. The axe and sword clatter to the ground along with another bit of horn and something else that looks like bone. 

A choke of a laugh is punched out of him as he realizes just how lucky he just was. His hands shake a bit from the adrenaline of almost being stabbed with a sword and after a calming breath he pushes himself up from the ground. The small gash on his hip isn't deep at all and he pokes at it gently. The wound stings and little stream of blood soaks into the fabric of his pants, but all and all its not bad considering the impaling alternative. 

Link dusts off his clothes, making a face at the still goopy Chuchu residue, and walks over to the of the possessions of the Bokoblin. The little shard of bone turns out to actually be a tooth and with a soft "Hmm." the Hylian picks it up. It too goes in the pocket with the Korok seed and so does the second horn. This one is more broken than the last with a crack running down its length, ready to split in two seemingly at any moment.

The axe is surprisingly not in bad shape after being thrown for dear life, and he straps it onto his back where the torch once lived. The shield is also in shockingly good shape, like it hadn't yet been used much. It's face a mostly smooth wood that’s been painted with broad stripes and the nubs where branches tried to go not fully carved off. 

Without place to tie it down, Link settles for resting it on his arm and bends to pick up the sword. It's old and a bit tattered, nicks and scratches down the blade and hilt. Something that used to belong to a traveler maybe, and by some miracle its barely been touched by rust. Holding it hits him with a wave of familiarity, almost like coming home. 

He searches for a sheath of some kind to put it into, looking around the front of the rock structure. Turning to gaze up the hill, Link remembers the other two Bokoblins. By sheer luck or a blessing from the goddess herself, neither monster seems to have noticed their brethren being slain. The two jump and stand and one fires an arrow into the neighboring hillside as if nothing has changed. 

With a shaky breath of relief, Link resigns himself to having a sheathless sword, taking to holding it instead of securing it somewhere much like the shield. Feeling a little weighed down, he strips the branch from his back as its now replaced with better weapons and leaves it on the ground where the lone Bokoblin once stood.

Carefully he switches the sword to his other hand, shimmying the wooden board's holds down his forearm to free up his hand to grip the hilt, pointing the sword at the ground. With a now free palm, Link takes out the Sheikah slate. It's screen lights up and the little yellow arrow sits directly on top of the happily flickering dot, confirming his suspicions about the bulb shaped gazebo being his destination. 

Glad to finally be where he's supposed to, Link smiles and reattaches the slate to his hip. With an aching shoulder, tender ribs, and a sluggishly bleeding cut, he steps up the tiny slope of rocks and onto the flat surface of the gazebo's floor. 

It's smooth like the cave he woke up in and in its center a waist high pedestal just like the ones that activated the doors sits. His footsteps echo off of the large rocks that force themselves into walls as he walks up to the jutting out stone that sits in the center of the bulb shaped rubble. 

As he gets closer to it the innards of the pedestal glow a bright orange. Link finds himself setting his newly acquired sword and shield down as he stands in front of the mount. 

"Place the Sheikah Slate in the pedestal." A beeping chime of a voice, not unlike the one he'd heard opening doors in the cave says, only much clearer sounding than the others. 

Doing as he's told, Link clicks the base of the Sheikah slate into the offered holder. It pulls back and flips around, displaying the screen as the inner circle rotates and the smooth rock face slights up in that circular constellation pattern. 

"Sheikah Tower activated." The voice songs.

_Tower?_ Link thinks, one eyebrow raising in question. The little structure wasn't exactly a tall one. 

"Please watch for falling rocks."

Link's eyes widen in shock and a _wooshing_ sound above him makes his head snap up. A design on the upper part of the gazebo like structure lights up in blue. The very ground begins to shake and Link fights for balance, reaching out for the pedestal to steady himself. The ground gives another tremor and he stumbles back, falling onto the smooth stone flooring.

He gasps in pain as he falls onto the axe, throwing his left arm up before it can drag across the side of the blade. The movement disagrees fully with his injured shoulder and Link groans.

The ground itself beings to roar and drown the Hylian's noise out, growling with an earthquake that startles nearby birds out of trees as the tower lives up to its name and shoots from the ground.

With a yelp of panic, Link covers his arms over his face as the large stone slabs that almost made walls of the gazebo crumble and fly away from the quickly rising structure. He's forced into the stone flooring by the speed of it and his stomach ties itself in knots, as he does his best to stay relatively on his side to avoid cutting himself on the wide axe.

The tower slows as it reaches an unbelievable height, almost as if clicking into place as it stops. Link gives it a grateful groan as he attempts to sit up, ribs complaining as he rolls himself into a sitting position and out of the way of the axe blade. 

However, the Sheikah tower isn't done yet. Three prongs sweep upwards towards the sky and lock in place as the innards of the tower start to glow a satisfied blue, an almost magical pulse runs through it before the tower stills once and for all.

With a grunt, Link hoists himself up fully from the floor. Now incredbily high in the air, the view is amazing. It's like he can see everything. Mountains in the distance, the remains of the temple from a new perspective, a monstrous volcano, a kingdom covered in shadow.

"Distilling local information…" The pedestal of the tower chimes.

A stalactite looking rock above the pedestal starts to glow that brilliant blue, the eye symbol near the end the brightest part. Hylian script shines along its surface. Some of it's too faint for him to read, others of it warble down the surface before he can make it out.

From the stone, a tiny droplet of shining blue pulls away. Slowly, it dethatches itself from the stone and falls. The droplet splatters against the screen and Link flinches back. Some of the liquid splashes out towards him but when he looks down there's nothing against his skin but a bit of persistent Chuchu jelly.

Still attached to the pedestal, the Sheikah slate's map opens again. The little broken circle glows in flowing lines of blue before pulsing once and filling in tones of browns and blue.

"Regional map extracted." The tower lets him know as the inner part of the pedestal turns and ejects the Sheikah slate. 

Without question he takes it back. Link looks down at it for a moment, marveling at the changed screen before reattaching it to his belt. 

Turning to take a step away from the pedestal a mumble of a voice interrupts him.

"Remember… Try… Try to remember…" From the cave, the same voice that lead him to where he stands now. The more she speaks the clearer she sounds. He looks around for her again, feeling almost foolish. She wasn't around the first times, there'd be no reason as to why she'd be now. 

Only, when he looks over to the kingdom shrouded in darkness, it's changed. There's a light, small but awfully bright in the heart of the castle.

When he looks at it, it feels like that’s where she is. He can't explain it, but in the few seconds it takes him to walk to the edge of the tower closer to it he's certain it's her.

"You have been asleep for the past one hundred years." She says, her voice getting ever stronger. Before Link has time to imagine what that means, the ground starts to shake even from his position on the tower.

"The beast…" The shadows around the castle seem to ebb and flow, curling and growing and shifting around the kingdom. "When the beast regains its true power, this world will face its end." From the smoke and smog a head of what at first glance looks like dragon flies. Enormous skull bobbing up and down as it encircles the heart of Hyrule. Huge curled tusks sprout from its face as large glowing eyes gleam just behind them, discernible even from such a great distance. As it passes directly behind the silhouette of the castle, its maw opens in a deep rumble of a roar that Link feels reverberate in his chest.

He'd hate to imagine what it would sound like if he were closer, the beast already so unbelievably loud. 

As it turns towards him, making his way around the Kingdom it roars again. Great jaw stretching wider than what looks possible, dislocating like a snake. Fangs on its bottom jaw contrast with the pale blue sky.

Its great head shakes back and forth as it dissipates, fading back into the flowing shadows that ensnare the base of the castle. "Now then…You must hurry, Link." The voice tells him, sounding more sad than ever. "Before it's too late…" 

_"Hurry? Why? What do you want me to do?"_ Link signs towards the castle. His pointed ears flick back in dismay as he gazes at the building in ruins. As always the girl doesn't answer him so he thinks instead about what she did tell him.

_I've been asleep…_ He stands at the edge of the tower. _For one hundred years._ The thoughts swirling around his head makes his knees week and he sits down before they can buckle under him. Crossing his legs near the edge of the tower.

It dawns on him more that he doesn't really know what he's supposed to remember. _Why was I asleep?_ He wonders, looking at the shadowed castle. Link finds the question leading only to more questions. All of them lead up to one final, _Who even am I?_ , as he sits on the tower.

He stays there a moment, staring at the castle. The volcano. The mountains. His hands. 

They're calloused like one would expect of a swordsman, it makes more since now why holding the stolen blade felt so familiar, but it doesn't answer much. Turning to the last thing that gave him direction, Link pulls out the Sheikah slate. No blinking yellow dot bacons him forth, though now he does see more than just squiggles on its screen.

There's a large body of water that the slate dubs Hylia River right next to Mount Hylia. He's nearest to a place called Eastern Abbey and discovers that the temple the old man had spoken of is called the Temple of Time. The name feels oddly fitting.

Feeling confused and aimless, Link pulls the baked apples from his small pouch and munches on the remainder of the half eaten fruit. It's taste is slightly dulled now that it has had time to cool, but Link savors it all the same. Idly, he pokes at the thin cut on his hip. It's stopped bleeding almost entirely now. 

With nothing else to do, Link looks over the map several times and enjoys his meal with a bitter aftertaste of confusion.


	5. Treasure for the Paraglider.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He climbs down from the ridiculously tall tower, mind no more at ease than at its top. The pain in his ribs goes back to a dull throbbing that bothers him when he twists the wrong way, though the ache in his shoulder is more persistent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter is a lot of trying to figure out how the Sheikah Slate Runes really work. Because the thing doesn't seem to have any buttons (whenever it's used they either just tap at the screen or point it at things) so I just sort of decided everything is touch screen about it. The end notes for this chapter will be a description of how I think it's all going to work for the sake of this fic. 
> 
> Also the calling Guardians urns comes from the dude on the first bridge (Proxim Bridge) you talk to. He calls them that and I couldn't come up with anything else to call them so I'm sorry the word urn is used like 50 thousand times.
> 
> Sorry if there's any mistakes in this chapter, it's the longest so far and I don't have a beta so I might have missed some things! Regardless, I hope you enjoy <3 Thanks for reading

He climbs down from the ridiculously tall tower, mind no more at ease than at its top. The pain in his ribs goes back to a dull throbbing that bothers him when he twists the wrong way, though the ache in his shoulder is more persistent. Having wedged the shield's straps over the end of the axe and the sword carefully held under his left arm, his feet hit solid ground once more.

"Hoy!" A voice hails him.

He looks around, brows meeting in confusion as he tries to find the source of the voice. A _fwoosh_ above him makes Link look up, a sound like a cloth being shaken open. To his surprise, he finds the old man hanging from a glider. Once his feet hit the ground the man folds the thing, it's frame bending easily as he puts it away.

"Ah, Hello again young man." The man smiles, reaching for his staff and casually leaning against it where he stands.

Link drops the sword into the dirt, its blade sinking in a few inches. He's too shocked to remind the old man of his name. _"Where did you-"_ He starts to sign.

"My, my." The man speaks as if he didn't see or care that Link was trying to sign to him. With a small huff, the shorter Hylian brings his hands back down and folds them over the sword's hilt. The rest of his question, _Where did you come from?_ , remains unsaid. 

"It would seem we have quite the enigma here. This tower and others just like it have erupted across the land, one after another." The old man hums, looking up at the looming blue cored structure. Its great height casts a shadow on the field. Link follows his gaze.

"It's almost as though… a long-dormant power has awoken quite suddenly." He muses, turning slowly back to Link. "If you don't mind me asking… Did anything… odd occur while you were atop that tower?" 

He brings his hands up from the sword and it wobbles a bit, gently he forces it a little more into the soil to keep it steady. _"I heard the girl again."_ He signs once he's satisfied the sword won't fall. 

"Well now, it seems she's talking to you an awful lot." The old man teases with a chuckle.

 _She still doesn't say much_. Link thinks, ears flicking in annoyance. What the girl does happen to say hardly makes sense and he can't even ask her to explain. That or she just refuses to hear him, though he hopes it’s the former instead of the latter. 

"The voice of this girl," He continues. "do you happen to know her?" The old man's words return back to an inquisitive tone.

Link doesn't answer right away. Instead he looks down at the dusty ground as if it'll help him remember. 

He knows his name is Link. He's a Hylian. They look up to the Goddess Hylia. He seems to know how to fight and might prefer swords. There are monsters called Bokoblins and Chuchus. He's one of the apparent few who can see the children of the forest.

There isn't much else.

With a frown, Link shakes his head as he looks back up at the old man.

The man hums. "I see. That is a shame." Link nods in agreement. It's a strange problem to have, not remembering something, and one he doesn't really know how to fix.

After a beat of silence the old man turns. "I assume you've gotten a good look at that atrocity swarming around the castle."

Link heaves a slow sigh and nods, following the man's line of sight. There couldn't have been a person alive that didn't hear the dragon beast roar. 

"That…is the Calamity Ganon." The old man says, crossing his forearms on the dip in his staff. "It brought ruin and corruption upon the kingdom of Hyrule one hundred years ago." 

_When the beast regains its true power, this world will face its end._

Link shudders. 

"It appeared suddenly… destroying everything in its path. Leaving countless innocents in its wake. Over the last century, the kingdom's purest symbol, Hyrule Castle, has been able to contain that evil. There it festers." The man says gravely. For once, Link's glad he doesn't speak. He can't think of a single thing to say.

The man however, fills the silence easily. "I must ask you, young man… Do you intend to make your way to the castle?" He turns to Link, expression surprisingly not expectant.

Link looks up at the castle again. He has nowhere else to go, no other destination in mind. It feels like his only option, but it also feels like the natural choice. Like the question instead should be why _shouldn't_ he go? He signs. _"Yes."_

The old man smiles warmly at him. "I had a feeling you would say that." He hums. Taking a second before speaking again. "Here on this isolated plateau, we are surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs, with no way down. if you were to try to jump off, well… no death would be more certain. Or more foolish." 

As Link looks out towards the crumbling stony walls, he realizes how far everything past them looks even from this ground level. The thought hadn't even occurred to him that they could be so far upwards already. It makes him wonder just how tall the tower is compared to its siblings across the land. 

"Of course," The old man says, voice taking on a much less serious tone. "If you had a paraglider like mine, that would be quite another story." 

Link looks back at the old man, ears flicking upwards. _"Paraglider?"_ He asks, trying out the name of the old man's sail.

"Oh! Piqued your interest, have I?" The old man teases with a chuckle. Link shrugs, smiling from the other's laugh. He is interested in the glider, if he's ever going to leave the plateau he's going to need it - or something similar. 

Also, the thought of sort-of flying, Link has to admit, has him curious. "Worry not - I will happily agree to give you my paraglider."

 _"Really?"_ Link signs, eyebrows raised high in questioning. He hadn't expected the old man to give him much more, he's already offered the smaller Hylian so much.

"But not for nothing, young man." He corrects, a bit of mischief in his tone. "This won't be a gift like the last. Let's see now… How about a trade?" The old man inquires and Link looks down at himself. He doesn't exactly have much to offer that the old man doesn't have himself, or once had.

"How about I trade it for a bit of treasure that slumbers nearby?" The man adds, noticing his dilemma. "Come, let me show you something." He turns and walking up the short slope. Link takes the sword from the dirt and follows.

From the new height and angle, Link can see into the Bokoblin camp just across from the tower, beyond the pond. What he'd assumed to belong to the guarding monsters actually houses its own group of creatures dancing about a fire while one stands look out.

The group might actually be easy to avoid, their camp secured in a little nook of a space. One side closed off by the drop off into a carved out river, one side the certain death cliff, and the other they've placed their own wooden barricades on. 

The old man snaps him out of his thoughts. "Do you see that structure there?" He asks, gesturing with his walking stick. "The one shining orange?" 

Link looks out across the river, its water stagnant where it grips at the slope of the hill and cuts into where the land climbs back upwards. It looks almost as if someone had taken a knife to the ground, cutting deeply where the earth was high but shallow where it naturally dipped. Just across from them is a little standing cave with squiggles of a shade he's starting to become familiar with.

"It began glowing at the exact moment those towers rose from the ground. I would think such a place might house some sort of treasure, wouldn't you? Treasure for the paraglider. A fair exchange, I believe." The man says with a curt nod. 

The little Hylian agrees with him, hoping that whatever goes on inside that little building isn't as drastic as being lifted on the top of a Sheikah Tower. Giving the man a nod of his own, Link starts to walk down the hill, sights set on the glowing cave. 

Getting treasure from a glowing building is much more worthy as payment than some wet firewood. Hopefully it'll even be enough to actually pay the old man back for the axe and torch as well and get Link completely out of his debt.

"Good luck, young man!" The elder calls after him and Link turns.

 _"I told you! It's Link!”_ The Hylian signs with a grin. The day the old man remembers his name would be the day that wild boar fly, he was sure of it. The old man just waves a dismissive hand, cementing his assumption.

Turning back towards the building, Link takes a moment to wonder the best way to get over to it. Fighting a camp of Bokoblins didn't sound like his idea of a good time so that was out of the question. He's too injured from the previous three monsters to take on a potential four or more. Though, he supposes he could sneak past them. If he climbed up the ridge of the Great Plateau's stone walls, maybe they wouldn't see him. It would also put him on the very edge of an unsurvivable fall, however. 

He could go around the other way, walking the path around the gouge of a river. Or, he could go the quick way - through the river.

As he debates his choices, Link steps down the little hill and between the puddles of the shallow pond. Glad to be walking the path for a much calmer reason than getting a surprise attack on a Bokoblin, he notices another rock structure. 

This one's admittedly smaller than the glowing cave, but it looks akin to it. Almost like an upturned urn, with the same squiggles about its base. Curiously, Link walks towards it. Boots sliding a bit against the ground as he slips a little on the decline.

He hums, walking around it. It's dreadfully covered in moss, and now that he's up close he notices it has a twin. Unfortunately the second urn-rock is buried in the river, only its top exposed to the air. 

The river looks a lot wider now that he's closer. The swim across the lake hadn't been too remarkably difficult. Of course, then he wasn't weighed down with an axe, shield, torch, and sword. The last of which having no sheath to reside in.

Grimacing, Link decides that he'd rather not get wet for a second time today. If he leaves his things to make the swim easier, the camp of Bokoblins could easily use them against him. He also has no idea what's in the glowing stone cave - he might need to defend himself.

Hoping for an easy retrieval of treasure, Link starts to walk around the edge of the stagnant river. As he turns to follow the shore, a third urn joins the others. This one is completely free of the water's grip and is apparently more intact. Three thin, spider like legs jut out from under its form and lay haphazardly about. The closest of its legs is bent and is tall enough for him to duck under. 

He does as such, fingers brushing along the interlocking segments of its limbs. The stone urn's feet are clawed things and he steps over one leg that's flush to the ground. The last of its limbs is bent higher than the first. Link doesn't even have to duck to walk under its form. Sharp stone talons of the final arm dig into the crumbling aftermath of the stone path.

Looking around at the crumbling rock pillars and fragments of wall, Link distantly hopes these old carved stone creations hadn't caused the chaos. As the Hylian walks, climbing up earth and rubble, he entertains the idea that maybe they'd even protected the dilapidated structures. Maybe they were fallen warriors, or even just intricately created statues that were left to time.

Regardless of what they are, Link makes his way up the hill and onto the side of the river that houses the treasure. There's more ponds on this side, and deeper from what he can tell. Careful not to slip in or lose his footing on the rocks, he walks past the pools of water and towards the glowing stone structure.

He passes an oddly shiny bolder on his way and two metal crates warped by weather. One of the boxes sits twisted a bit on one side of the larger ponds while another rests right next to the treasure holding cave. 

Link steps up onto the round platform, a dull circle decorates the floor as the pedestal's face lights up. It looks like it was taken from the cave he awoke in, the face of the pedestal flat unlike that of the tower's. 

Aiming for two hands free, Link carefully slides the sword in his belt like the torch. Then he grabs at the Sheikah slate, looking down at its lit screen. The map is still displayed on it, only its updated since he looked at it last. There's an orange diamond mark sitting right under his yellow arrow. Hesitantly, he taps at it. 

The diamond becomes selected, growing larger as text appears next to it. Oman Au Shrine. It reads. Link looks back up at the orange glowing cave. The very walls of the thing seem to disagree with the slate, Hylian text spelling out _Dungeon_ repetitively on its face. 

With a frown and dreadful sinking feeling in his stomach, Link hesitantly holds the Sheikah slate over the pedestal. Just like the tower, it makes a distinct _woosh_ sound as the bright orange flips into a glowing blue. 

"Sheikah Slate confirmed." The pedestal obediently announces. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Link sees the once dull circle light up the brilliant blue it now shares with the tower. More runes decorate the edge of the design, its inner part intricate swirls. "Travel Gate registered to map." The pedestal chimes. "Access granted." 

_Travel Gate?_ Link wonders, brow arching as he turns back to the now blue pedestal. Before he can start to wonder what exactly that entails, the wall that dubbed the structure a dungeon swings back. Where the stone rectangles touch glows blue in more runes that move too fast for him to even attempt to read

He steps to the center of the doorway as it falls completely open, once again hiding the blue sides of the rectangles. A ring of orange in the floor does its own flip to blue as the outer shell of the shrine flows into the cool color. The top of the structure that had once lay unlit becomes the previous orange color of the base, as if it shifted upwards.

Looking back down at the Sheikah slate in his hands he notices the outline of the shine's point on the map has also changed to a blue, its center remaining orange. 

He reattaches the slate to his hip and hesitantly walks inside the shrine cave. _It's so small._ He thinks. Only a disk like inlay inside, glowing with the same eye pattern on the back of the Sheikah Slate. He hopes whatever treasure is supposedly inside is small enough to hide behind the small ridge at the disk's back. 

As he steps onto it to peer over to the very back of the shrine cave, the disk shifts under him. Not expecting the floor to dip under his weight he stumbles a bit. To steady himself, Link swings out his arms, finger tips brushing against the cool stone wall. 

The disk apparently takes his soft "Ah!" of surprise as permission, pulsing a bright light. It lowers itself until Link has to bring his arms back closer to his person to avoid hitting the floor of the shrine, the Great Plateau disappearing above him.

The entire world becomes enveloped in a bright blue as he descends, incased in a sort of tube. The walls of the tube are the same shining blue as the outer shell of the shrine only without the interruption of stone between it. He squints against its solid assault on his vision, hoping the disk isn't taking him somewhere horrid.

There's a break in the onslaught of blue as the disk passes the end of the tube, coming to a final stop with a jolt into a square holder in the ground, the movement threatens to unbalance him again. Link rubs at his eyes, finding the sudden shift from daylight to blue and back to something more natural disorienting. 

As he blinks away the weirdness in his vision he notices the blue screen before him isn't just a trick of his eyes. The light from the shrine walls materializes into a ring of glowing beams around the disk. Hesitantly, he reaches out to touch it. 

The light feels like nothing at all, his fingers passing right through it. Carefully he steps off of the disk and onto it's small platform.

_"To you who sets foot in this shrine… I am Oman Au. In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial."_

A deep, ominous wail echoes off of the walls and makes Link shudder, goose bumps fanning out across his skin and making his hair stand on end. 

_Trial?_ He wonders, another slight feeling of dread dropping his stomach. He only wants treasure to trade - not a dungeon's trial. 

He looks up, half expecting the voice to continue. When it doesn't he slowly takes in more of his surroundings. 

Directly in front of him there's large flat sheets of something metallic, beyond them a large section of wall that’s been replaced with a rod grate. The walls are a plain slate gray, decorated with the same glowing constellation patterns and wall mounted lighting of the cave he awoke in. 

A stalactite grips a lowered section of ceiling, hanging over a pedestal much like the Sheikah Tower off to the left. Link looks at it curiously, brows scrunching together as he wonders what sort of map it could add to the slate. 

Deciding to find out, he walks over to it. His footsteps echo quietly against the vast stone walls. It's impossible to think that this huge structure lay hidden under the shrine's cave entrance and he wonders at how it came to be.

As he approaches the pedestal, it illuminates in orange just like the last. It's center piece held outward and offering a base in which to place the Sheikah Slate. Link takes it from his belt and clicks it into the socket.

Just like the Tower, it flips over the slate and rotates before sinking back flush with the pedestal face. 

"Sheikah Slate authenticated. Distilling rune…" It announces, the rock above slowly washing in a glowing blue. Link has a moment to wonder what the pedestal means by a _rune_ as the rock grows brighter and a small drop of glowing blue pulls away from its surface, Hylian text rolling down the stalactite like water.

As the droplet hits the screen of the Sheikah Slate, the pedestal face instantly flips from orange to blue and the short Hylian flinches back once again from the splash.

The face of the Sheikah Slate lights up and instead of showing the map, it shows six empty squares. The entire background pulses blue like it had when the map was added to the slate. The third square lights up, a small red magnet symbol filling the slot.

Words pulse to life on the screen and Link leans over the pedestal to read them.

_Magnesis_

_Manipulate metallic objects using magnetism_

_Grab on to metallic objects using the magnetic energy that pours forth from the Magnesis rune. Objects held in the magnetic snare can be lifted up and moved freely._

"Rune extracted." The pedestal announces before ejecting the slate. 

_So that's what it meant. Magnesis?_ Link ponders, still not quite understanding how it works. Curiously, he taps at the rune on the screen.

The world unfolds in pink lines and Link jumps. The walls and floor are gridded with the faint lines and he makes a soft "Oh." sound as he looks around. 

The two slabs on the floor stand out from the rest of the world and Link aims the face of the Sheikah slate at them. Nothing happens for a moment and he blindly taps at the edge of the screen, apparently pressing something to activate it.

From the screen a magnet materializes, shooting a beam of multicolored _something_ at the closest slab. The sudden outburst from the slate makes Link jump again, nearly dropping it. Carefully he holds it by the sides, one hands fingers curling into the Sheikah Slate's handle while the others curl around its flat base. 

The glowing magnet's light beam doesn't disappear as it hits the metal slate, connecting with the object and tinting it in a yellow light. 

Hesitantly, Link looks at the magnet. It's small, about the size of his hand, floating in front of the screen. Link turns the screen a little to look at it better and a loud _clang_ has his head snapping back up.

The metal slab floats above its twin which is now hit aside, both objects slightly askew from the movement. Where they once lay is a large hole in the floor.

Letting out an awestruck breath, Link looks down at the slate in wonder. A childlike grin stretches his lips as he tilts the slate left. On command the magnet pulls the metal slab this way and that.

One of his fingers accidentally slips from his grip, tapping against the edge of the screen. The pink tint to the world flashes away and the metal slab falls with a loud _thunk_ , the little floating magnet disappears. 

Link flinches from the sudden sound, ears flicking back. Curiously he taps at the face of the slate again, this time looking at it as he does. 

One tap washes the world in pink lines. A second makes the magnet appear, shooting its beam out towards him and through him. It, like the light around the floating disk feels like nothing but is incredibly strange to see. It disappears soon after phasing through him, apparently not finding anything to latch on to.

When he taps the screen again, this time he turns it towards the highlighted metal slabs. The light from the slate's floating magnet once again connects with the closest one, washing it in yellow. 

This time, Link pushes the screen away from him, holding it outward. The slab of metal pushes back, knocking again into its twin a bit, and continuing backwards even after his arms couldn't reach any further. The metal makes a dull sound against the wall and he taps at the screen again.

The world snaps back to reality, all pink highlights and lines gone as the magnet disappears and the slab of metal settles once again on the ground.

Momentarily satisfied with the Sheikah Slate's wonder, Link turns his curiosity towards the hole in the ground. Peering down it, he sees a shallow trough of water and a path leading under the main floor of the shrine. A latter hangs off of a piece of the dugout's wall and he climbs down it.

The water from his new perspective is deeper than it originally looked. The entire dungeon is strange and new to him, so he crouches down at the water's edge and dips his fingers in. 

It's surprisingly not cold in temperature, just above lukewarm actually. His soft hum echoes in the small space. It makes him realize how thirsty he is and he scoops a little handful of water out, some of it dripping down his fingers. Hesitantly, he sniffs at it. The water doesn't smell like anything but he thinks better of drinking it, spreading his fingers and watching it drip down back into the pool.

Wiping his hand on his pants, Link stands once more, walking down the underground corridor. The end of the small hall opens up to the other side of the wall, a staircase allows him back on the main floor.

Once there, the room greets him with a wall. Forged from blocks of stone, one odd one looking similar to the metal crates he'd seen outside the shrine. 

Hoping it's metal like it's twins, Link takes the Sheikah Slate from his belt and taps at the rune screen. Once again the world becomes outlined in pinks and surely enough, the darker box is a bright fuchsia, indicating that the slate can interact with it. 

Showing the screen towards the box, he taps at the screen again and the little magnet jumps from the Sheikah Slate. It's beam latches onto the block and he pulls it out, bringing the slate towards himself before pushing it back out to knock out the middle row of blocks. Along with them the top row tumbles downward and he uses the metal block to shove aside one of the bottom row's blocks to give himself a path. 

Not letting the block down quite yet, in case another wall needs knocking over, Link walks between the blocks taller than himself. Unintentionally creating a small maze for himself, he squeezes between two last rocks before coming out on the other side.

With a little huff he dusts off his clothes with one hand. A shrill beeping next to him makes him turn just before an explosion goes off to his right, blasting one of the stone blocks into dust and rubble. 

The force of the thing makes him stumble back with a yelp of surprise, instinctively curling in on himself for protection - forgetting entirely about the shield on his back. A loud crash makes his head whip back up from his defensive crouch.

One of the urn things, only maybe a fourth of the size and glowing a bright orange, skittles around. It's clawed feet scratching against the floor as it fires another explosive at the metal box still in the Sheikah Slate's Magnesis grip. The blast connects with a section of wall and doesn't even damage the stone. 

As he'd brought his arms up to cover his head from falling rocks, the slate dragged the box around the room and apparently too close to the little urn for its liking.

Thinking fast, Link angles the slate and thrusts it downward. In front of him the metal box makes a swift decent atop the mechanical creature. It's rapid beeping is silenced with a loud _crunch_ as both the beast and box break. The Magnesis rune deactivates as it's object falls to pieces

The Hylian squints against the debris as it begins to settle, blinking stone dust from his eyes and coughing a little from the sudden cloud. Waving a hand to hopefully blow it away from his face. 

Another explosion goes off and Link flinches. Instead of an attack from the urn thing, it's the creature itself exploding. Parts of it fly around the room and splash into what sounds like water beyond the floor, much more violently than when he'd slain his first Bokoblin.

 _A little urn tired to kill me._ He thinks with a shaky breath, straightening and dusting himself off. It wasn't exactly little per say, but much smaller than its upturned counterparts in the river. 

Link returns the Sheikah slate to his belt for the moment and makes his way towards where the _thing_ exploded. His legs are a little wobbly as he forces them to move, the initial fear of almost being blasted to smithereens still making his blood race.

Where the baby monster urn once stood, sits two small screws. Hesitantly, Link picks them up. They're shiny but strangely don’t feel metallic, their threads seemingly without a day's wear on them. He finds them a home in the pouch on his belt and takes a few calming breaths.

Getting his heart rate to a more normal zone, Link takes a look around. This side of the wall has another floor of water under him and as bits of metal box and urn sink to the bottom, he's glad he didn't drink any of it. 

There's another metal slab like the first ones connecting this floor to another section of it and he steps onto it. Walking across the surface makes the sound of his footsteps echo in a different pitch until he hops down on stone floor once more. 

Directly in front of him is a vast metal door, between him and it is another gap in the flooring. With a frown, Link wonders if he can manage to jump the gap. 

Just as he starts to gear himself up for an attempt at it, he remembers the slate on his hip and its convenient Magnesis rune. 

The tips of Link's ears flush a bit in embarrassment as he reaches for the slate, mentally punching himself for forgetting about the rune he'd gotten just the room over. A tap paints the world pink, the grand door lighting up brightly in front of him. Leaving it for now, Link turns back towards the large slab. 

Lifting it with the magnet is as easy as it was the first time. Link keeps it in line with the direction to make it a bridge, lifting it up and over himself and back down. For the short moment the thick slab is directly over him, Link holds his fingers out away from the Sheikah Slate just to be safe and not accidently crush himself with it. 

He safely positions it over the gap and drops it in place with a dull noise. Walking his way across it he reactivates the Magnesis rune again, gazing up at the tall door highlighted by the rune's pink glow.

Out of the corner of his eye however, he notices it's not the only thing on this side of the room the Sheikah Slate insists is metal. High above him, in line with the top of the door sits a platform jutting from the wall.

Deactivating the rune to get a better look at it with his own eyes, he sees a shining chest glowing with the same orange lines as the shrine itself. Wondering how he didn't notice its light before, Link takes a step back to get a better angle to look at it.

Pointing the face of the slate at it he taps twice, washing the world in pink and sending out the little magnet's beam. It grabs onto the chest, painting it in yellow as Link brings the slate towards himself. 

Tilting the Sheikah Slate down a bit, he brings the chest in a sweeping motion towards him after it passes the lip of the stone cliff. As it hovers a bit over the ground he taps at the screen again, chest thudding against the ground and rattling its contents inside.

At its noise, Link kneels in front of the chest, hoping that inside holds treasure for the old man. The orange squiggles form a wiggled circle where a normal chest would have a lock. Being of the same vain as the rest of the pedestals and such, he holds out the slate's face to the lock.

As he suspected, it unfurls into a blue color, circle lock twisting and snapping the top of the chest open. He grins a bit at his accomplishment, peering into it. Link makes a soft "Oh." sound, setting the Sheikah slate down next to the chest. There's no treasure inside of the box, not the kind you'd use as a currency, but valuable none the less.

It's a bow. Crafted of wood and metal at the grip and tips. Link lifts it from the box and inspects it. The pattern is decoratively etched into the metal wedges that form a point divided by a wrapping of leather. He slots his hand into the grip and pulls back on the string, straightening his back as he tests its tension. His ribs ache from the movement but he does his best to pay them little mind.

Surprisingly enough, the bow string isn't as warn as he expected. It still takes effort to pull back and bends gently on the tips of the bow, wrapped in a blue dyed leather and tipped with more artfully crafted metal. Without much free space on his person to strap it to, he ducks his head between the string and bow itself. 

Adjusting it a bit around his own chest, Link looks back into the chest on the floor. Under where the bow had lain sits a quiver. 

It's an orange-ish brown leather with a metal ring around its middle, little rivet's punching into the dyed material. Another piece of metal wraps around the end of the quiver. The leather itself is colored in more than just orange, several strips curling into a pleasant design of a white swirl with blue triangles pointing outwards. A paler orange line wraps around a white circle that holds red rings inside, looking like a target.

Just above the metal ring and just below the quiver's opening are two rings of leather, strings lay loosely tied through them. Inside the quiver lays three abandoned arrows, feathered ends decorated with a blue stripe. 

As Link lifts it from the chest, he distantly wonders if it's what the old man is after. Twisting around a bit, the movement a little weird with the pull of the bow against all the other things on his back. The head of the axe thumps against the chest as he reaches for his belt, all the while his aching chest tries to make itself known by constricting in pain. 

Awkwardly he ties the quiver's strings tightly around the back loops of his belt, tugging at it once to make sure it's secure. 

With a huff, Link stands, picking up the Sheikah slate again and pushing a bit against the ground. He's a little more weighed down than when he'd walked into the shrine, adjusting the bow again against his chest. He tries to balance it between his ailments, keeping its pressure off his ribs and left shoulder.

Nevertheless he continues, eager to get to the next section and get out of the oddly threatening and yet gifting shrine. 

He walks towards the giant door and taps at the Sheikah Slate's screen. The magnet's beam latches on to one of the doors and he pulls it towards himself.

Moving the large, ancient doors proves to actually be a bit of a challenge. Link takes a few steps back, pulling the slate towards his chest as it's Magnesis rune tugs on the door, yanking it almost like a fishing pole.

As the door swings open suddenly, both of the doors move as if one, wheels running along a track in the floor. 

Past the door is a staircase leading up to a platform with another smaller staircase leading to another. A blue wall of light shines as it incases what looks to be a person, sitting peacefully on a pedestal. 

A soft sound of confusion comes from him, echoing off the walls as he looks past the doors, turning off the Magnesis rune. As soon as they're free from the Sheikah Slate's grasp, the doors start to roll closed again. With a sudden yelp of surprise Link rushes forward to hopefully get between them before they close.

Only, the doors stop about halfway and he breathes a sigh of relief. Afraid of the door changing its mind and deciding to close fully, Link wastes no time in slipping through the gap left.

The figure beyond the light wall doesn't move as Link takes cautious steps up to their platform. Coming to stand in front of the figure he notices the Sheikah Slate's eye design glowing in the shimmering light wall, as well as painted on the figure's face.

After a moment of nothing, he hesitantly reaches a hand out towards the eye design. Instead of phasing through the light, his fingertips connect with it as it pulses a solid white with a drip like chime. Link flinches back from it as a ripple of white light spreads along the blue light's surface.

Eventually the ripple fades out and seconds later the entire wall begins to glow white. Link barely has time to register the change before the light shatters into thousands of thin shards, exploding outwards and making him gasp and nearly fall back in shock. Just barely keeping his footing on the top step.

He looks down at himself patting frantically down his chest. He finds himself uninjured from the thin blades of light with a heavy sigh of relief. 

_"You have proven to possess the resolve of a true hero."_

Link's head snaps back up when the ominous moaning he'd heard after first entering the shrine sounds again, coming from the stone still being in front of him. _Hero?_ He questions. He doesn't feel like a hero - he just wants a paraglider. 

Oblivious to the Hylian's confusion, they keep talking. _"I am Oman Au, the creator of this trial. I am a humble monk, blessed with the sight of the Goddess Hylia and dedicated to helping those who seek to defeat Ganon."_

 _"With your arrival, my duty is now fulfilled."_ The monk, Oman Au, thanks him. All the while they speak the figure, presumably belonging to the voice, doesn't move on the pedestal. It's equal parts unnerving as it is interesting. _"In the name of the Goddess Hylia, allow me to bestow this gift upon you…"_

Link's ears flick upwards as he listens. The gift, it has to be the treasure the old man wants to trade for. 

_"Please accept this Spirit Orb."_ With that, a bright white light shines from the monk's ribcage the instant he thinks, _Spirit Orb?_ A sphere materializes from the glow, a ghostly sort of gas around it. As the orb bridges the gap between himself and the monk, it shines in a rainbow of colors, a pale symbol residing in its center. 

Link doesn't get the chance to look at it in detail, as it continues coming right for him, making a home in his chest. The orb dissolves into another bright light, several rays of it shine out and curling around they too run past his ribs. Instinctively he puts a hand to his chest, over where the sphere phased through, breath catching in his throat as he expects it to hurt.

Instead, there's a distinct warmth to whatever the spirit orb is, making his chest feel numb and tingly. The feeling washes over him, spreading out through his limbs in a way that feels pleasant yet odd at the same time. 

The bruise on his shoulder fades, healing quickly and leaving behind no trace of the injury. The cut on his hip closes entirely, scab fading away as if it were never there to begin with along with the healing scrapes on his palms. When he takes another breath, it's surprisingly easy as his ribs no longer constrict with the pain of being headbutted by a Chuchu. All signs of fatigue and pain fades away as the warmth spreads from his chest to the rest of him.

Looking back up at the monk, Link feels wonderful. Like someone gathered up all his aches and pains and threw them carelessly out of a window. A grin splits his face as he makes to ask the monk how they did it, to thank them, and about what a spirit orb really is. Before he can however, Oman Au bids him goodbye.

 _"May the Goddess smile upon you."_ The ominous groan doesn't sound quite as ghastly anymore. 

The monk's figure before him starts to fleck away into bright teal flecks. He gasps as the person completely disappears before his eyes, wondering for half a second if he'd done something terribly wrong.

One of the blue-green flecks passes closer to his vision and he looks down, surprised to see his own hands flecking away just like the body of Oman Au.

Just as quickly as the monk had dematerializes, Link does too, watching as his body disappears. 

Before his very eyes, the floor of the monk's pedestal becomes the outer cave of the shrine's entrance. Teal flecks building him back together in front of the inlaid disk that brought him down to the dungeon to begin with, just under the shelter of the Shrine's cave.

Blinking a few times against the change in scenery, he startles at the sight before him. The sun has already set over the horizon, washing the sky in a deep blue as stars dance above him. The distant sound of crickets chirp a tune of nightfall. Oddly enough, Link barely feels tired at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's a breakdown of my headcanon.
> 
> Tap the rune's icon to select the rune you'd like to use
> 
> Tap again (either anywhere, or on the icon) to activate it.
> 
> For bombs this means to create the bomb, for things like Magnesis and Stasis, this means to turn on the vision that allows you to see what you can fuck with. 
> 
> More controls specifically -
> 
> For bombs - To detonate, tap the screen again anywhere to detonate with the screen facing the direction of the bomb. To de-materialize, tap the screen again while facing the screen away from the bomb. Same for both shapes.
> 
> Magnesis - Tap the screen while pointing it at what you'd like to manipulate. Move the slate accordingly to move the object. (Slate to the left, object to the left. Slate held out away from your body, object pushed away. Etc, etc) Tap again anywhere to deactivate (and thus dropping the currently carried object). I imagine there just simply isn't a way to drop something without turning the rune off, for simplicities sake. (I've also made the magnet smaller, roughly the size of the screen because for all this to work Link has to actually be holding the Sheikah Slate, not a comically large hologram of a magnet. It's reach will also probably be a bit further for convenience sake.)
> 
> Stasis - Tap the screen while pointing it in the direction of what you'd like to stop time for. This effectively turns off the rune - allowing you to screw with what you've just stopped until it naturally lets time take hold again after a few seconds. If you'd like to re-start time manually for something and not have to wait, tap the screen to reactivate it and then point the screen towards it and tap again.
> 
> Crynois - Point the screen where you'd like to place an ice block (It's preview and where you can/cannot put one will be shown just like what you can/cannot manipulate with Magnesis is shown). Tap to place one, to put one under yourself just hold it straight down. To break, just point the slate at it again and tap the screen. I imagine making a block would turn off the rune automatically, and to turn it off without making one probably just press and hold the screen or double tap or something)
> 
> Camera - Imagine like an Iphone camera - it'll have its own interface unlike the other runes. To activate, just top on the camera icon or anywhere on screen with it selected. Zoom in and out by pinching the screen with two fingers. On the screen will have tappable buttons for Self portrait mode, take picture, quit(back to Rune's screen), and to album. 
> 
> There of course, will be no Amiibo rune. (Though, spoiler alert for future plans in this work, I will be including Wolf Link and Epona)
> 
> Navigating between Runes, Map, Album, etc I imagine is like swiping left and right. Right most like in game being runes and left most like in game being the Compendium.


End file.
